Conservative Stephen Hammond retains Wimbledon seat

By Tara O’Connor BBC Local Government Correspondent

Conservative Stephen Hammond has been re-elected in Wimbledon with 38 per cent of the vote, equivalent to 20,373 votes.

But there was a strong challenge from Paul Kohler of the Liberal Democrats with 37 per cent of the vote, equivalent to 19,745.

The Green Party stepped aside in Wimbledon as part of the Unite to Remain electoral pact.

This time round there was a massive 78 per cent turnout. That’s 53,027 votes, of which 217 were rejected.

Stephen Hammond has represented the constituency since 2005.

He was one of 21 Conservatives who lost the whip in September after voting against the government on a key Brexit vote.

He briefly sat as an Independent but was let back into the Conservative Party on October 20.

In the Wimbledon constituency, 70.63 per cent of voters voted in favour of remaining in the EU.

The full results were:

Stephen Hammond, Conservative: 20,373

Paul Kohler, Liberal Democrat: 19,745

Jackie Scheider, Labour: 12,543

Graham Hadley, Independent: 366